"You can pan for gold in any stream in BC if you use only a shovel and a gold pan, and you are not on/in a claim/lease, park, private property, reserve or First Nations land. See Hand Panning for more information.
I am offering this 4 piece washing set for the competitive price of approx. $36.00 CDN and shipping etc brings it up to $50.00. But if you compare prices online you will see, that is in the range of larger suppliers, because I am taking a low cut. Enjoy the gold panning! Always take a friend and a GPS device so you don't get lost. Even if you get Gold Fever, you have got to be safe around nature. Great summer activity for kids! You may get rich.
Gold panning is based on the fact that gold is a very dense - very heavy for its size - about 70% denser than lead. Given the chance, it will settle down through lighter sand and pebbles.
You shovel some paydirt into your gold pan - enough to half or three-quarters fill it.
You add water to the pan from time to time by gently lowering it into still water in the creek or a tub. You can tilt the pan a bit so water flows in on one side. You don't want water to pick up fine gold and flow out again.
You wash and remove larger pieces of gravel and clay, and totally break down smaller lumps of clay by hand.
You shake the pan from time to time, shaking it from side to side slightly to get everything moving. The gold will settle lower in the pan. Fine gold won't settle if the shaking is too rough.
You shake the pan to settle the gold, and then sweep the material on top out of the pan with your hand. This is how you get most of the material out of the pan.
If the water gets too dirty, you shake the pan to settle any gold near the top, and then gently pour some water out. You can add more water at any time as described above.
When there is less material in the pan, you can remove the top material using swirling water. You make it move around in a circle - with the pan tilted a little so that some water and lighter material are swirled out. (You don't have to do this - you can just sweep material off the top with your hand.)
With less material in the pan, shaking is done with the far side of the pan tipped down so that any gold will settle to the edge of the bottom of the pan.
Using a Magnet
Some black sand (magnetite) will stick to a magnet. If you use a bare magnet to pick it up, you will never get it all off. However, you can wrap the magnet in plastic - when you remove the magnet, all the black sand can be easily rinsed off."
For more info:
https://www.bcplacer.com/gold_panning_in_bc.htm